Ambiguous Citizenship in an Age of Global Migration

An ambitious contribution to ‘critical citizenship studies’ – where the author herself places the work alongside the oeuvre of Étienne Balibar, Engin Isin and RBJ Walker, the book’s main intellectual influences – shifting our thinking back to the ontological foundations of ‘citizen’ … the book will have achieved its highest aim if all those working on migration and citizenship from various disciplinary perspectives take account of and engage with the challenge of understanding ‘ambiguous’ forms of citizenship.

Few studies rethink citizenship with the creativity, imagination, and nuance of this book. Aoileann Ní Mhurchú investigates the politics of citizenship in relation to the struggles of intergenerational migrants, and reveals the value of seemingly fragile, impermanent and transient forms of political subjectivity. Highly recommended.

This book builds on the challenges posed by recent critical analyses of citizenship. It shows not only that many contemporary forms of citizenship exceed national and territorial boundaries but, more significantly, resist the conventional opposition between claims to particular citizenships and claims to a common humanity. It does so by treating citizenship as both process and experience, especially in relation to intergenerational migration. It is a compelling and provocative intervention.